Daniel 1.8-Daniel Resolved Not To Defile Himself With The King's Food And Drink And Asks Ashpenaz Permission To Not Each Such Food
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday December 7, 2011
Daniel: Daniel 1:8-Daniel Resolved Not To Defile Himself With The King’s Food And Wine And Asks Ashpenaz That He Could Abstain From Eating Such Food
Lesson # 13
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 1:1.
In Daniel 1:8, we see Daniel determining in his heart to not defile himself ceremonially by eating Nebuchadnezzar’s food and drinking his wine.
Consequently, he requests permission from Ashpenaz, Nebuchadnezzar’s officials’ commander that he abstain from the king’s fine food and wine in order to not defile himself.
Daniel 1:8 But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s choice food or with the wine which he drank; so he sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself. (NASB95)
“But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with king’s choice food or with the wine which he drank” is composed of the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “but” and this is followed by the third person masculine singular qal active imperfect form of the verb śîm (שִׂים) (seem), “made” and then we have the preposition ʿǎl (עַל) (al), “up” and this is followed by the masculine singular construct form of the noun lēḇ (לֵב) (labe), “mind” and then we have third person masculine singular pronomial suffix –hû (־הוּ) (who), “his” and this is followed by the relative particle ʾǎšěr (אֲשֶׁר) (ash-er), “that” and then we have the negative particle lō(ʾ) (לֹא) (low), “not” which is negating the third person masculine singular hithpael middle imperfect form of the verb gā∙ʾǎl (גָּאַל) (gaw-al), “he would defile himself” and then we have the preposition bĕ (בְּ) (beth), “with” and its object is the masculine singular construct form of the noun pǎṯ-∙bǎḡ (פַּת־בַּג) (pathpag), “choice food” and this is followed by the articular masculine singular form of the noun mě∙lěḵ (מֶלֶךְ) (meh-lek), “the king’s” and then we have the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “or” and then we have the preposition bĕ (בְּ) (beth), “with” and this is followed by the masculine singular construct form of the noun yǎ∙yin (יַיִן) (yah-yin), “the wine” and then we have the masculine plural construct form of the noun miš∙tě(h) (מִשְׁתֶּה) (mish-teh), “drank” and this is followed by the third person masculine singular pronomial suffix –hû (־הוּ) (who), “he.”
The conjunction wa is a marker of contrast meaning that it is introducing a statement that stands in contrast with the statement in verse 5.
Daniel 1:5 records Nebuchadnezzar ordering that the young aristocrats from Judah, who met the qualifications listed in verse 4, were to receive a daily portion of his fine food he ate and drink the wine from his own private stock.
However, eating Nebuchadnezzar’s food and partaking of his wine would cause these young deportees to violate the dietary regulations of the Mosaic Law.
These regulations prohibited Israelites from eating “unclean” animals (Leviticus 11; 20:15; Deuteronomy 14:3-21; cf. Leviticus 17:10-16; 19:26; Deuteronomy 12:15-25).
The term “unclean” is a technical term to describe those foods, which were commonly consumed by Gentile peoples but the Israelites were forbidden by God under the Mosaic Law to partake.
These dietary regulations, like circumcision, were given by God to Israel to distinguish her from the Gentile nations, which she was to dispossess in Canaan.
The ceremonial aspect of the Law contained the list of those land animals, birds, insects and marine life that were designated by God as unclean or unfit for consumption for the Israelites and those which would be clean or fit for consumption.
Christ fulfilled the ceremonial ordinances, the shadows and types of His person and work, by dying on the cross for us and in our place.
Therefore, these dietary regulations in the Mosaic Law do not apply since Christ fulfilled perfectly the Mosaic Law and is Himself the substance of the ritual aspect of the Law.
The Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles whose teaching is in the New Testament make clear that the dietary laws of the Mosaic law did not apply to the church (Mark 7:2, 5; 14-19; Acts 10).
The gospels and Acts both record that the Lord Jesus taught no food is unclean (Matthew 15:10-20; Mark 7:14-19; Acts 10:1-15).
There were no prohibitions with regards to the drinking of wine in the Mosaic Law but the problem was that the wine, as well as the meat, had been dedicated to idols as was customary in Babylon.
Thus, for Daniel or any Jew under the Law, to drink of this wine would be to recognize the Babylonian idols as deities.
Now, in Daniel 1:8, the conjunction wa is introducing a statement which says that Daniel resolved that he would not ceremonially defile himself by eating Nebuchadnezzar’s unclean food and drink.
Therefore, the contrast between verses 8 and 5 is Daniel eating Nebuchadnezzar’s food and drink, which was ceremonially unclean for him, as a Jew under the Mosaic Law and his choosing to abstain from this food and drink.
The verb śîm means “to determine” and is employed with Daniel as its subject and is modified by the prepositional phrase לֹֽא־יִתְגָּאַ֛ל, which means “in his heart” indicating that Daniel “determined” in his heart to not defile himself ceremonially by eating and drinking Nebuchadnezzar’s food.
The noun lēḇ means “heart” and does not refer to Daniel’s cardiovascular system which pumps blood through the body but rather it refers to the place where Daniel does his thinking and makes his decisions.
It refers to the “heart” of Daniel and denotes that aspect of his soul, which circulates his thought or mental activity and is where his frame of reference and memory center resides.
The noun lēḇ is also the place where his vocabulary and the classification of his thoughts reside as well as the conscience where his norms and standards reside.
Daniel’s conscience was of course involved in his decision to not defile himself with the king’s food and drink.
His norms and standards were based upon the Word of God and specifically the Mosaic Law.
Daniel’s entire mental attitude circulated in the lēḇ as well as his subconscious where various categories of things that shock or impress from adversity, sin, failure or disappointment are located.
Also, the heart contains his volition, which he used to make this decision to not defile himself with the king’s food and drink.
The verb gā∙ʾǎl means “to defile” in the sense of causing oneself to become ceremonially unclean and thus not acceptable to God under the Mosaic Law.
The word’s meaning is negated by the negative particle lō(ʾ), “not” and together they speak of Daniel determining to “not defile himself” ceremonially and cause himself to be acceptable to God’s Law.
As was the case in Daniel 1:5, pǎṯ-∙bǎḡ in Daniel 1:8 refers to a “portion” of Nebuchadnezzar’s fine food and the noun miš∙tě(h) refers to Nebuchadnezzar’s alcoholic beverages as opposed to the food he ate and refers to his “private stock.”
The preposition bĕ is used twice in this verse and in both instances it has an instrumental sense indicating that Daniel determined in his heart to not defile himself “by means of” the king’s food or “by means of” his wine.
“So he sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself” is composed of the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “so” and this is followed by the third person masculine singular piel active imperfect form of the verb bā∙qǎš (בָּקַשׁ) (baw-kash), “he sought” and then we have the preposition min (מִן) (min), “from” and its object is the masculine singular construct form of the noun śǎr (שַׂר) (sar), “the commander of” and this is followed by the articular masculine plural form of the noun sā∙rîs (סָרִיס) (saw-reece), “the officials” and then we have relative particle ʾǎšěr (אֲשֶׁר) (ash-er), “that” and then we have the negative particle lō(ʾ) (לֹא) (low), “not” which is negating the third person masculine singular hithpael middle imperfect form of the verb gā∙ʾǎl (גָּאַל) (gaw-al), “he would defile himself.”
This time wa is a marker of result, which indicates that “as a result of” Daniel determining in his heart to not defile himself by means of a portion of the king’s fine food as well as by means of his own private stock of wine, he sought to receive permission from Ashpenaz to abstain from the king’s food and drink.
The verb bā∙qǎš means “to request permission” to do something.
This indicates that after determining in his heart to not defile himself by means of Nebuchadnezzar’s fine food and wine, Daniel “requested permission” from Ashpenaz that he not defile himself, i.e. he requested permission to abstain from the king’s food and wine.
Daniel 1:8 reveals that Daniel was quite a young man in that obedience to the Word of God was more important to him than his own life or advancement in life.
By making this decision to not eat from Nebuchadnezzar’s fine food and not drink his fine wine, he would not advance in Babylonian society.
This decision would inevitably result in his expulsion from the three year program of learning Babylonian literature and language, which upon completing would have resulted in his becoming a dignitary in Nebuchadnezzar’s court.
This decision could have very well cost him his life since the proud king would have inevitably found Daniel’s decision insulting to him and reveals that he did not love the cosmic system of Satan (1 John 2:15-17; James 4:4-8).
This decision also revealed Daniels’ great faith which produced his obedience to the dietary regulations of the Mosaic Law.
It showed how much he trusted the Lord that even though he was a captive in a foreign country, he had faith that the Lord would take care of him and protect him.
Daniel 1:8 also demonstrates that Daniel was a great leader since it appears from this passage that he came to this decision first before Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. It also demonstrates his great moral courage.
Daniel 1:8 also reveals that Daniel has common sense and respect for authority since instead of rebelling and not eating Nebuchadnezzar’s fine food and drinking his fine wine, he asks permission from Ashpenaz to abstain from these things.
Thus, he was showing his respect for Ashpenaz.